Pfizer completes acquisition of Wyeth after approval from FTC, Canadian Competition Bureau

NEW YORK One day after getting the go-ahead from the Federal Trade Commission and the Canadian Competition Bureau, Pfizer has completed its acquisition of Wyeth, Pfizer announced Thursday.

“We are pleased to have received all the requisite regulatory approvals for our combination with Wyeth,” Pfizer CEO and chairman Jeffrey Kindler said in a statement. “We now look forward to combining the two companies so that we can achieve meaningful results for patients, customers and the communities we serve, as well as for our shareholders.”

The acquisition brings to an end a process that began in January, when Pfizer offered Wyeth shareholders $68 billion for the company amid a wave of big-ticket acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry that included Merck & Co.’s acquisition of Schering-Plough Corp. and Roche’s purchase of the remaining stock in Genentech that it didn’t already own.

Wyeth stock will cease trading on the New York Stock Exchange at the end of the business day Thursday, and the two companies will begin joint operations Friday.

China’s Ministry of Commerce and Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission granted approval for the acquisition last month, and Pfizer also moved Wyeth executives Frances Fergusson and John Mascotte to its own board of directors. The European Commission approved it in July, and Wyeth shareholders voted to allow it the same month.